So there's been a guy posting on Craigslist recently on how he gets pet food in bulk and sells it for cheap, and I finally decided to contact him out of curiosity, just to see what he had going on. I told him I fed one dog Diamond Naturals and the others Earthborn Holistic (forgot to mention I fed the grain-free variety), and he sent me samples and ingredients of the two formulas he found most comparable. The better of the two was this:

I don't think I've seen Millet listed in dog food before (I know I give it to the birds, though), and I had never even heard of Sorghum?! I googled Sorghum in the results I glanced at, read it was a pretty low-grade, low-cost filler. I wrote back to the guy and told him as much, as well as my opinion that the food was grain-heavy (not necessarily more so than the DN, I realize, but as the others are on grain-free, that's just not going to fly).

He disagreed and kind of insulted my choice to feed my dog anything Diamond related. But here are a couple snippets

If you were to examine my foods a little closer you would see they are superior to Diamond naturals..They are not grain heavy. How many different grains are in the food doesn't have anything to do with the total amount of grain the food has in it. These foods are based on 2000# formula's. A food could have one grain on the ingredient list and have 1000# of grain in it. Another food could have 5 different grains listed on the ingredient list and still only have 500 total lbs. of grain in the overall formula

Though I'm pretty sure their placement on the ingredient list is indicative on the proportions in the food.

[qoute]Sorgham and millet are not low quality grains. Sorgham is whole grain and gluten free, high in antioxidents, rich in b1, niacin, iron, zinc, dietary fiber, and B2. It also boosts smoother blood sugar behavior in dogs. Millet is also gluten free, is rich in vitamins and minerals, and is one of the least allergenic and most digestible grains.[/quote]

Anyone have any thoughts on any of this?

(PS My Akita doesn't get grain free food because giving him enough to make him full makes him gain weight)

I don't see anything wrong with sorghum & millet in particular, but that food has a lot of grain in it. After the chicken meal, the next 3 ingredients listed are grain. There's probably not a lot of sorghum in it, because that ingredient follows "chicken fat", and generally everything after the fat source is present in trace amounts.

I don't consider any grain a "filler" because they are all high in carbohydrates and many are high in protein/vitamins. As long as the whole grain is found in the food, I'm happy. Grain is grain, they just vary in the amount of gluten (a highly allergenic protein) and vitamins/minerals. I'm not particular about any grains because at the end of the day they should be part of a food that has been properly formulated and balanced.

Its all about proportion. Millet and Sorghum just happen to be cheaper right now than corn (which is at an all-time high) so they are go-to grains for many types of feed.

I do worry about where this food is produced, many locally produced dog foods are lacking in testing and quality control, and you may end up with problems with contamination that won't show up until its too late.